“Oh! .... You can’t be serious!” said Daniel.

“Well he offered every argument against the idea, but when a tiny man turns up in your backyard looking better than prawns and caviar, and he’s small enough to be gobbled whole, it’s hard to deny oneself the pleasure of making the most of him,” said Trudi.

“Just like you couldn’t deny yourself the possibility of goofing up this backjaunt!” said Daniel.

“Daniel, you are becoming increasingly rude,” she chided, “You’ve asked a lot of questions, and I’ve given you straightforward answers. What more can I do?” asked Trudi.

“You can work out what we do next in order to salvage this fiasco!” said Daniel.

“Well your powers of expression are as good as they were in your adult body, even if your manners are lacking,” said Trudi, “It’s obvious what we’ll do next. I’ll pick you up and take you into the kitchen, and clean you up a little since you’ve been running through the grass. Once that’s done, I’ll sit down at the dining table and eat you for my lunch.”

She sat down on the garden seat with a look of detachment and confidence, and stared down at him.

“You!...” he started.

“The master poet seems to be running out of words,” Trudi taunted, “You can run and hide in the flowerbed, if you like. I’ll soon fetch you out in time for lunch.”

He turned and ran.

“Try hiding under one of the roses. They look lovely in bloom this time of year,” she called.

He could do worse than take her advice. Soon he peeked out as she stood up and strode confidently over and looked down into the flowerbed.

She stepped to one side, and then back again, and then her eyes fell upon the rose that concealed him. She knelt down, reached in with her hand, and snatched him up.

“You probably knew this would happen all along! I’ll bet you set me up for this! All those fancy speeches about wanting to take my creative intellect back in time with you and stick it in the body of my kindergarten self!” said Daniel.

“You’re being unfair again,” said Trudi, “I was telling the truth, when I said that I didn’t expect this to happen. It’s taken me by almost as much surprise as it’s taken you. I certainly didn’t plan it. I already had the memory of having eaten Murray. But this does help to balance things out. By coming back this far, I’ve saved him from the fate I inflicted on him in an earlier timeline. I’d been wondering if I could go through with this backjaunt anyway, because of that. But the way it’s worked out, I can make short work of you instead.”

“And then live it all out again, and go back to playing happy families with your boyfriend in the distant future, with a son who’ll get to live a lot longer than me,” said Daniel.

He was too small for her to be sure that he wasn’t foaming at the mouth.